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Power Out Again? No Storm, but a Cloud of Suspicion

Amid the devastating storms of recent years, the experience has grown familiar in some corners of Long Island — fallen wires, power poles tumbling to street level and electricity that disappeared in a flash.

On Tuesday morning, thousands of residents awoke to such circumstances, but with no weather to blame.

Shortly before 4 a.m., a Metropolitan Transportation Authority worker in a stolen boom truck pulled down a dozen poles around Elmont, N.Y., striking wires and laying waste to the roads below in a predawn drive that left several homes damaged, the authorities said.

“It looked like a tornado came through,” said Inspector Kenneth Lack of the Nassau County Police Department.

The worker, identified as Joel Grasman, 51, stole the truck from a transit center at 129th Street and Jamaica Avenue in Queens, the police said. It appeared that Mr. Grasman had taken the truck to transport welding equipment, which was reported missing, because it did not fit in his own vehicle, the police said.

But as Mr. Grasman drove the truck near his home in Elmont, he “took down about 12 of our poles,” said Mark Gross, a spokesman for the Long Island Power Authority, leaving more than 6,000 customers without power.

Photo

Utility cables being repaired on Tuesday on Meacham Avenue in Elmont, N.Y., after a transit employee knocked them down.Credit
Michael Nagle for The New York Times

By midafternoon, the power authority said, 265 customers remained without power. Mr. Gross said power was likely to return at most homes by Tuesday night.

The Nassau County police said that Mr. Grasman appeared to have taken down power lines with the boom attached to the truck. “It’s one of those lifting trucks,” a spokeswoman said. “He lifted the back and did his damage.”

Officials said the truck also pulled down several traffic signals and ripped meters from some homes along its route.

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It was unclear if Mr. Grasman brought down the lines intentionally. Inspector Lack said Mr. Grasman abandoned the truck near the Southern State Parkway and left on foot; he was later apprehended by the police. Charges included criminal possession of stolen property, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.

Inspector Lack said Mr. Grasman had a criminal history that included trespassing and possessing stolen property in 1981, and driving while intoxicated in 1985. Two phone numbers listed for Mr. Grasman were disconnected.

Around 6 a.m., the transportation authority said, another employee arrived at the transit building in Jamaica to find the power cut to the yard, and the truck and some welding equipment missing.

The authority said that Mr. Grasman, a light maintainer, had been an employee for more than 20 years, but had recently been on leave after being injured while trying to relocate a gas tank.

A version of this article appears in print on August 28, 2013, on Page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Power Out Again? No Storm, but a Cloud of Suspicion. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe